Trustees slated to approve Daniels' presidential pay

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - The Purdue Board of Trustees is all set up to approve an employment contract for incoming president Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. It will lower the base pay and include performance bonuses based on critical goals like increased graduation rates and affordability.

The base pay, if approved at Saturday’s board meeting, will be $420,000 with the potential for another 30 percent from the performance incentives.

There is no deferred compensation. If all the outlined goals are met, which Trustee Keith Krach said would be difficult, Daniels’ pay could reach $546,000.

That $546,000 is still less than previous president France Cordova who made $555,000 with deferred compensation.

Krach said the performance-based contract was Daniels' idea.

"As far as we can tell, there's no other university out there that has that level of incentives and that much compensation at risk," Krach said.

Daniels’ salary would rank 10th in the Big Ten, according to April data.

Goals and weights will be reviewed and revised each year and mutually agreed upon by Daniels and the board.